The Prognostic Value of Serum Soluble Programmed Death 1 (sPD-1) and Programmed Death Ligand 1 (sPD-L1) in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis About Cohort Studies.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

There are still no useful biomarkers for the prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In the prognosis of some kinds of cancer, soluble programmed death 1 (sPD-1) and programmed death ligand 1 (sPD-L1) have demonstrated statistical significance, but the prognostic value of serum sPD-L1 and sPD-1 remains unclear in ESCC.

METHODS

Here, a meta-analysis was performed to estimate the prognostic value of sPD-L1 and sPD-1 in ESCC. To obtain eligible studies, we searched mainstream databases (PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science, Wanfang Data, and CNKI), and the survival data including hazard ratios (HR) and its 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) from included literature were extracted.

RESULTS

Six articles were included, including 645 patients with ESCC. The statistical result of this meta-analysis indicated that serum sPD-1 had no significant correlation with overall survival (OS) of patients with ESCC ( > 0.05). Patients with ESCC with high concentrations of serum sPD-L1 demonstrated a significantly poor prognosis (HR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.42-2.11,  < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Higher levels of serum sPD-L1 may predict poor OS in ESCC patients, which may be a promising and credible prognostic biomarker for esophageal cancer.